NHL 10 Community Day: First Look - Flyermania's Blog

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NHL 10 Community Day: First Look Stuck

Posted on May 15, 2009 at 08:47 AM.

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You asked for more information, and now you�re getting it!

What follows are some impressions on some of the new features that we saw in NHL 10 at the Community Day event. Please keep in mind that these are only impressions on what I saw, and not actual hands-on impressions of these features.

This is only a small part of what I saw at the event, so there is a ton of information and impressions yet to come. I think you�ll be just as excited about NHL 10 as I am once you read and see what has been added to the game this year!

Board Play

Board play makes a much needed and much anticipated appearance in the NHL series. Unlike 2004 where the board play had a suction effect and feel, a player must be positioned along the boards before you can pin them.

Not only can you pin a player in the defensive zone, but you can also initiate board play while in the offensive zone to freeze the puck and take some time off of the clock. Once a player is pinned, they can kick the puck to another player with their skates to pass. You can also hold the puck along the boards and wait for another player to come along and try to poke check the puck away from the pinned player.

The board play looked to be very well done and adds a great deal of realism to the game.

First Person Fighting

There is no doubt that the fighting in NHL09 left a lot to be desired. Those days are officially gone! NHL 10 introduces a new first-person view as part of a brand new fighting engine. Rough play will pop up a window for the user to choose to initiate a fight, and if the gloves are dropped the view will switch to a first person view where you are facing your opponent.

Be careful with who you target, as if you target a skilled player on the other team you may find yourself face to face with their enforcer instead. And yes, the CPU can initiate fights as well!

The new fighting engine looked fantastic and is a 100% improvement from last year.

Intimidation Tactics

NHL 10 enables you to play a more physical game. Zack Stortini spoke to us on how important it is for him to send a message to the other team, and you can play a physical style that will impact the performance of your opponent. There isn�t a momentum meter or anything like that, but you will see the CPU play less aggressively, make bad passes, etc. As mentioned above, you need to be aware who you are targeting as the CPU will send over their enforcer if you are targeting their skilled players too much.

Precision Passing

NHL 10 now offers Precision Passing where you are in total control of your passes. This is a great new addition as with practice you can learn how to thread the needle and lead your teammate with a great pass just past the defender. Starting breakouts, making tight passes, and leading your team mate with a great pass that leads to a breakaway is now possible.

Post Whistle Action

As evidenced in the playoffs, the physical play doesn�t stop when the whistle blows�and the same can now be said for NHL 10. Throw an extra hit, check, or face wash your opponent � but be careful as it can all lead to a human or CPU initiated fight! And the referees will call penalties after the whistle, including multiple penalties.

Interactive Crowds

The crowds are into the game even more than ever in NHL 10�from cheering, booing, chants, all the way to people charging and pounding the glass when there is board play!

As you can see, there is a lot that has been added to NHL 10 � and this is just the tip of the iceberg of information that will be coming your way over the next few months! The developers have done a fantastic job of adding new features to the game that not only improve the game but give it a much more realistic experience.

Please remember that what I listed above is only based on what we were shown in the game and not an actual hands-on impression.

Thanks for reading!

Comments

# 1 Bumble14 @ May 15

This is by far my most anticipated game of 2009. The addition of board play and scrums is HUUUUGE!!

Now I hope they tweak the robotic goalies, and add some type of composure system so that you can rattle a goalie to see more organic goals. NHL 09 was a bit too programmed when it came to scoring- I almost felt like I was exploiting the games code to score, rather than seeing a randomness is goal types.

Can not wait to hear more about this game.